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News Release: Saskatchewan’s only geriatrician named SMA Physician of the Year

Saskatoon - For the last eleven years Dr. Jenny Basran, Saskatchewan’s only Royal College certified geriatrician, has dedicated her life to ensuring this province’s growing population of older adults receives optimal care that meets their increasingly complex needs. In recognition of her remarkable work, she has been named the Saskatchewan Medical Association’s 2015 Physician of the Year.

“Jenny is loved by her patients and families and respected by her peers” says Dr. Susan Shaw, Chair of Saskatchewan’s Health Quality Council and a long-time colleague of Dr. Basran. “She is a compassionate clinician, an extremely effective teacher and researcher, and an inspirational leader. I am thrilled that her dedication to improving the care of Saskatchewan's seniors is being acknowledged.”

Through her work ranging from the front lines of medicine, to education, to health system transformation, to research, Dr. Basran has grown to identify gaps and barriers to quality geriatric care in the current system, and help engineer solutions. Some of her key accomplishments include adapting the University of Saskatchewan’s medical curriculum to include core competencies in geriatric medicine, leading the successful Long-term Care Falls Prevention and Reduction Initiative of the Ministry of Health (which was adopted as the national framework for Safer Healthcare Now!), and winning the award for best technology solution targeted to an aging population for her iCaregiver app at the world’s first Hacking Health event in 2012. Currently she is working with a team to develop a Single Care Plan, a new type of electronic record which will optimize communication and data flow and foster whole-person care.

Among her current roles, Dr. Basran is clinical co-lead for the Emergency Department Wait Time and Patient Flows project, a core member of the Health Technology Expert Review Panel, and head of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, in addition to being a practising clinician and associate professor at the College of Medicine. Her innovative thinking, unwavering focus on holistic care, and harnessing of technology to improve patient care and quality of life continues to transform the face of geriatric medicine in Saskatchewan.